198 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS tion of the Mississippi. Toward the close of 1784 Monroe was selected as one of nine judges to de cide the boundary dispute between Massachusetts and New York. He resigned this place in May, 1786, in consequence of an acrimonious controversy in which he became involved. Both the states that were at difference with each other were at variance with Monroe in respect to the right to navigate the Mississippi, and he thought himself thus debarred from being acceptable as an umpire to either of the contending parties to whom he owed his appoint ment. In the congress of 1785 Monroe was interested in the regulation of commerce by the confederation, and he certainly desired to secure that result; but he was also jealous of the rights of the southern states, and afraid that their interests would be over balanced by those of the north. His policy was therefore timid and dilatory. A report upon the subject by the committee, of which he was chair man, was presented to congress March 28, 1785, and led to a long discussion, but nothing came of it. The weakness of the confederacy grew more and more obvious, and the country was drifting toward a stronger government. But the measures proposed by Monroe were not entirely abortive. Says John Q. Adams: "They led first to the par tial convention of delegates from five states at An napolis in September, 1786, and then to the general
